WHY

Agroecology Contributes To Solving The Biodiversity Crisis

Food system models that take an industrial approach (monoculture crops, reliance on chemical inputs for maintenance, limited connection to local food practices and/or food culture, etc.) are a primary driver of ecosystem collapse, biodiversity loss, soil pollution, and freshwater withdrawals.

These harmful intensification practices have also increased climate vulnerability due to a dramatic loss of crop and animal diversity. Currently, only 12 plants and 5 animals make up 75% of the world’s consumption, with just 3 crops (wheat, rice, and corn) accounting for more than half of the world’s staple foods.

The expansion of industrial agricultural systems has been driven for more than 50 years in the Global North, and in past years increasingly in the Global South, through “visible,” “hidden,” and “deep” systemic drivers.

Structural drivers of biodiversity loss linked to unsustainable food systems

Source: Adapted from Third World Network (2024), Exporting Extinction.

Understanding Agroecology

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines agroecology as “an integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems. It seeks to optimize the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment while taking into consideration the social aspects that need to be addressed for a sustainable and fair food system.”

Agroecology is “integral to FAO’s Common Vision for Sustainable Food and Agriculture,” and “is a key part of the global response to this climate of instability, offering a unique approach to meeting significant increases in our food needs of the future while ensuring no one is left behind. It addresses the need for socially equitable food systems within which people can exercise choice over what they eat and how and where it is produced.

The FAO Council, reflecting approval from 197 member states, recognized the importance of agroecology in 2019 at its 163rd session, where it approved the 10 Elements of Agroecology. In the same year, the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) elaborated a consolidated list of 13 Principles of Agroecology.

Agroecology: An Approach for Sustainable and Equitable Agriculture and Food Systems that Enhance Food Security and Nutrition.

The 13 Principles of Agroecology can be clustered around three overarching values of sustainable food systems:

Improving resource efficiency:

Recycling (1) and Input reduction (2).

Strengthening resilience:

Soil health (3), Animal health (4), Biodiversity (5), Synergy (6), and Economic diversification (7).

Securing social equity:

Co-Creation of knowledge (8), Social values and diets (9), Fairness (10), Connectivity (11), Land and natural resource governance (12), and Participation (13).

Source: UN Committee on World Food Security, High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE)

Agroecology, Food Systems, and Biodiversity

Agroecology directly addresses biodiversity loss while also providing multiple co-benefits for climate adaptation and mitigation, food security, health and nutrition, ecosystem resilience, sustainable livelihoods, social cohesion, cultural heritage, and human rights.

A growing body of literature confirms the potential of agroecology to transform food systems.

Agroecology also contributes significantly to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health beyond individual farms by enhancing ecosystem functions and connectivity within agricultural landscapes.

Within farming systems:

GENETIC LEVEL

Conservation of wild relatives
In-situ conservation of intra- and inter-variety/breed diversity of domesticated and semi-domesticated species
Preservation of farmer-led selection practices maintaining locally adapted landraces

SPECIES LEVEL

Maintenance of managed diversity of crops/managed plants/fish/livestock species and non-food species (shade trees, companion plants)
In-situ conservation of Indigenous, underutilized, and native crops
Protection of rare and endangered species, and characteristic cultural landscapes (e.g., skylark or lapwing)

AGROECOSYSTEM LEVEL

Maintenance of diverse and biologically active soil ecosystems (e.g., by reducing soil disturbance, increasing organic matter, and high-quality organic input)
Increase in micro-climatic niches at the plot level by increasing habitat structure (e.g., through intercropping, establishment of canopy, understory, and ground cover)
Promotion of functional groups (pollinators, beneficial insects, detritivores, and producers)

Source: Authors.

Across diverse landscapes:

PRODUCTION LANDSCAPES

Increase overall biodiversity dimensions (e.g., species richness and abundance, as well as ecosystem connectivity)
Increase landscape complexity and suitable habitat for species of local and global importance
Support pollinators and insectivorous communities that are currently in decline
Support ecosystem restoration efforts by improving soils and vegetation cover

MOSAIC LANDSCAPES

Reduce edge effects in natural habitats within the landscape
Support species movement and dispersal through the landscape
Reduce runoff impacts to wetlands and other water ecosystems
Maintain ecological processes, like local climate regulation, that are key to long-term persistence of natural habitats

INTACT/SEMI-INTACT LANDSCAPES

Increase connectivity between conserved landscapes
Support food security of communities in buffer areas around these landscapes (e.g., through agroforestry)
Support alternative livelihood options such as ecotourism that can direct more funding towards conservation
Support the sustainable use of species associated with these landscapes by increasing diversity within farming systems

Source: FAO, Biovision Foundation, and Agroecology Coalition, Agroecology Dialogue Series.

Support for agroecology through policy, funding, research, and capacity-building has expanded over the last decades, for example:

International organizations have increasingly advocated for agroecological approaches.
A wide variety of countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Mexico, Senegal, and Vietnam, among others, have launched or renewed agroecology-related policies and strategies.
Countries in East Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania have launched or are working on their national and sub-national agroecology strategies.
State-level programs are also taking off around the world, as in the case of India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Funding and international cooperation has improved, including through support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Global Environmental Facility, the European Commission, and private philanthropic institutions such as the Agroecology Fund, which pools funding from more than two dozen donors and many other foundations around the world.
In 2023, 25 philanthropies aligned with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food to announce a shared goal of catalyzing a transition to 50% regenerative and agroecological systems by 2040, and to ensure that all agriculture and food systems are transitioning by 2050. This builds on a prolific network of research centres and projects, and a web of thousands of civil society organizations dedicated to promoting agroecology.
The Agroecology Coalition, created in 2021, now comprises almost 50 national governments, 2 sub-national governments, 3 regional commissions, and approximately 250 organizations from different stakeholder categories (e.g., NGOs, farmers organizations, research centres, philanthropy, donor, international and UN agencies, SMEs, etc.).

Despite significant systemic barriers to mainstreaming and scaling up agroecology, momentum continues to build for agroecology in local, national, and international policy-making.

For more information and resources see Chapter 1

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Boosting Biodiversity Action Through Agroecology

Guidance for developing and updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans

WHY